Tuesday, December 15, 2015

History: The Year is 1694

A Third-rate Ship Sinks with 10 Tons of Gold Aboard -- It is a secret mission to give gold to the Duke of Savoy, but it sinks so no joy.

It's the Bank of ENGLAND! What Could Go Wrong? -- King William needs financing so he opens a bank. I talk about how people tend to put trust in government.

A Chapel for the Shroud of Turin -- Is it really the death shroud of Jesus? I'm not sure it matters.

A Third-rate Ship Sinks with 10 Tons of Gold Aboard

The HMS Sussex is on a secret mission. The Sussex is a third-rate
ship-of-the-line leading a convoy of over 40 war ships and 166
merchantmen into the Mediterranean. Convoy protection is a normal
function of the British Navy, but the Sussex is carrying its own secret
cargo... 10 tons of gold coins worth over 344 million dollars (as of
December 2015). The gold is destined for the Duke of Savoy. As the
convey passes the rock of Gibraltar, a sudden storm sends HMS Sussex to
the bottom. Only two sailors will survive and the Admiral's body will
wash up on shore, dressed in his nightshirt.
[1][2][3][4]

My Take by Alex ShruggedOne
can only guess why gold was going to the Duke of Savoy, so let's guess.
The War of the Grand Alliance against France was in progress. Savoy had
almost quadrupled his army and took the war to French soil, but in 1695
the Duke signed a secret peace treaty with France. If gold was headed
to the Duke in 1694, it may have been to help with military expenses.
(Or maybe it was a really big bribe, but what are the chances of that?
Perish the thought.) When the gold went to the bottom, the Duke cut his
losses and made peace. Recently the wreck of the Sussex may have been
found off the coast of Spain but currently the exploration project has
been put on hold until Spain can get guarantees that the exploration
company simply won't sail off with all the treasure. It happens. [5][6]

It's the Bank of ENGLAND! What Could Go Wrong?

In the war against France, King William the 3rd of England is running
out of money, especially after the recent disastrous Battle of Beachy
Head. He needs to build a modern navy, but the King can't get credit to
save his life. If he cannot win this war (or at least not lose it) he
will literally lose his life and the previous King James the 2nd will
return from France to take the British throne. So, in order to get
financing, King William starts the Bank of England and allows the bank
to handle the British government accounts. This close association
between the government and the bank lends respectability to the Bank of
England. People start making deposits; the bank lends that money to
England and the King builds his navy.
[7][8]

My Take by Alex ShruggedPeople
want to trust their government, so when the government puts its faith
in a bank, the people figure that they can't get hurt too badly if they
put faith in the bank too. This was how Congress and President Bush got
caught during the Subprime Mortgage Crisis. The government implied that
losses from failed subprime mortgages would be covered because certain
financial institutions were "too big to fail." Well... apparently some
institutions were just the right size to fail along with a lot of
individuals such as the actor, William Devane. He played the President
of the United Stated on the TV series '24'. Now I see him on TV
commercials trying to sell gold. Thank you, Mr. President. I'll look
into that. This is called "an argument from authority" and in William
Devane's case, a FAKE authority. Since the news media treats the
President of the United States as if he is an expert on the economy, and
if he tells people to buy gold, then that is best thing to do. Right?
Don't bet on it. [9][10][11]

A Chapel for the Shroud of Turin

The city of Turin is located within Duchy of Savoy. Several years ago
the Turin Cathedral began construction of a chapel to house the Shroud
of Turin. That construction is completed this year. The shroud is
purported to be the cloth that the body of Jesus was wrapped in when his
body was removed from the cross and placed in a temporary tomb. The
actual history of the cloth has not been well documented until after the
mid-1400s. It will remain the property of the House of Savoy until 1983 when it will be transferred to the Catholic Church in Rome.
[12][13][14][15]

My Take by Alex ShruggedMost
people want to know if it really is the death shroud of Jesus. I'm not
sure how one would prove it for sure. Carbon-dating was done on the
cloth, and that places the date at no earlier than 1260.
That was approximately when reports on the existence of the cloth
begin. I'm not sure that it matters whether the shroud is the actual
one. If someone made an error, then it was an error. If the cloth never
existed, would Christianity dissolve into nothing? I doubt it.